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Unprecedented in scope and depth, Chef Koochooloo is an innovative educational platform that engages families in fun interactive cooking games while teaching math, science and geography, and raising awareness for worldwide causes. Harvesting the delicious and discarding the mundane, Chef Koochooloo ignites a sense of fun and curiosity in children. Our customized recipes deliver a fresh take on cooking meals at home and schools, while highlighting the unifying aspects of culture, and celebrating different countries.

Working at Chef Koochooloo is not for everyone – We seek only the best and brightest who give 110%. We look for top talent who thrive in a culture that’s virtual, creative, and agile. Every day we mix fun with high productivity, enthusiasm, and innovation. This is a place where team members “own “their work product and strive to be the “best in breed”. We are dedicated to honing our talents, creating great products and user experiences and producing amazing content, while changing the world for the better. If you believe in our mission, we would love to have you onboard.

Are you passionate about creating a fun and educational experience for children? Do you love cooking and tasting recipes from different countries? Are you looking to enhance your experience working with children while being involved with a Silicon Valley Startup? Then join our team! Chef Koochooloo is a mobile + social + educational platform that teaches kids about math, science and geography through cooking. We have been piloting our curriculum in various Silicon Valley schools and received exceptional feedback.

WHAT YOU’LL BE DOING:
Deliver the cooking session to a group of approximately 15 children ages 4-10 following the syllabus created by the Chef Koochooloo Product Development team
Guide the kids in preparing recipes from different countries while discovering the world
Actively engage in suggesting and planning activities, such as “learn while you wait”, fun facts and games

Desired Skills and Experience

Demonstrated interest and experience with children ages 4-10

Commitment to safety and well-being of the children

Understanding child development

Schedule flexibility

Passion for cooking and travelling

Communication and interpersonal skills

Proven ability to work as a member of a team

About this company

WHAT YOU GET:

Experience working with children

Work with an innovative company committed to creating global citizens that care about the world.

Hourly remuneration

The classes are scheduled to begin in November 2014 and will take place in the Mountain View School district as well as various restaurants.

Yenegah Bakery Lessons – Tuesdays from 4:00 to 5:30

Mariano Castro Elementary School – Tuesdays from 3:05 to 4:05 & Wednesdays from 2:05 to 3:05.

“Taquitos” is the word used in Mexico to say “small tacos”. However they are not always so small. Taquitos are eaten in Mexico very commonly and the filling changes depending on the occasion, parties, gatherings or Mexican holidays! Enjoy!

Name in English: Beef Taquitos

Name in Spanish: Tacos de carne de res

National Language: Spanish (Mexico)

Why Little Chefs love Mexico? Children in Mexico have a lot of fun at their birthday parties. The “Piñata” is originally a Mexican child party activity were traditionally children used to beat with a stick a “piñata” made of ceramic and decorated with colorful papers. Nowadays kids chose any kind of figure they want, from their favorite superheroes to their favorite princess, and the best part is… all piñatas always have candy inside!

What problems children living in Mexico face? A lot of children in Mexico live in poverty and they need to walk many miles to attend school, especially in low populated areas, also known as rural areas. Children in Mexico would be benefited if we donate to associations dedicated to building more schools and take education to every corner of the country.

Why is this recipe special? Some of my Mexican friends celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and because I love Mexican food and all its various ingredients I decided it was time to give it a try and make a very common recipe that in Mexico is actually food for any occasion, but here you can particularly enjoy it this weekend even if you don’t celebrate Cinco de Mayo. I assure you! You will be left craving for more!

Why Big Chef’s care? Tortilla is an excellent source of fiber; they have a beneficial effect on your digestive tract, thanks to their fiber content. This intake of fiber through tortillas is very beneficial in the long run.

Why Little Chef’s care? Taquitos are traditionally finger food. But the best part is that you can add anything you want to your ‘taquito’. So you prepare it as you want it to be!

Tortillas are traditionally made by hand in Mexico. Moms all over that country have a special item to make them perfectly round; it’s called a tortilla press. (Almost every other house in Mexico has one).

Ingredients:

Lettuce (3 cups)

Mild Salsa

Beef (1/2 pound)

Mazeca Flour (1 cup)

Cream (1 cup)

Beans (1 cup, refried beans)

Avocado (1)

Onion (1/2 cup chopped)

Fresh Cheese

Little Chef Prep work: If the big chef decides to make the tortilla by hand, then tortilla pressing is a very fun activity for the children! It’s just like playing with dough, they just need to put a little ball in the middle and press until the tortilla dough is round and thin.

Big Chef Prep work: Big chefs can decide if they prefer to make the tortilla by hand or if they want to buy it. There are many tortilla brands; some of them are even organic. What is very important is to have soft tortillas in the end. Now to the cooking!

Instructions:

Hand made tortillas: Take a cup of the Mazeca flour and put in a big mixing bowl. Then throw a small vegetable oil spoon and blend it together by hand. Or using a spoon, preferably wood or silicon.

Use a flat pan to make the tortillas, most families outside of Mexico don’t have a ‘comal’ a traditional Mexican cooking platform that is used to make the tortillas. But do not worry a flat pan works just fine.

Add a little water to your tortilla dough, until you can make small balls that are not too soft, nor too hard.

Then add a little oil to your flat pan, and once you have pressed the tortilla (if you don’t have a tortilla press, don’t worry! Use a big plate; a flat surface and a plastic cover for both ends). Put the round ball of dough floor in the middle of the plate and push hard until you feel the surface has become flat.

Now take the tortilla and carefully place in the pan. The middle and then the rest of the tortilla area will change colors. Once you see this then switch the tortilla (like a pancake) and wait for the other side to be thoroughly cooked!

Beef recipe: For the beef you can cook it as you please the most. And even change the recipe if you don’t like beef. You can use chicken. Cook the beef with sauce of your preference. I used tomato mixed with onion and pepper.

Taquito preparation: Warm the beans and use the beans and the beef as a filler for the taquitos.

Cut your lettuce and shred your cheese, that will be on top of the taquitos.

Put your taquitos in a plate and on the top add lettuce, salsa, cheese and cream. You can top with guacamole or sliced avocado.

Last week I started an exciting new venture at SAP, a fellowship for the Talent Marketing team under my mentor, Carmen O’Shea’s leadership, focused on attracting, engaging and retaining talented employees.

A fellowship is one of SAP’s greatest benefits and one of the perks that got me excited about working at SAP in the first place. It is sort of like an exchange student program, where you can work in a different team, on initiatives that could be completely unrelated to your current job. I am really excited to apply my marketing and communications expertise to better engage and develop our employees during the next six months and what more exciting way to kick things off with a heart to heart session with the North America SAP Graduate Academy.

This 10 month, cross-functional rotational training program is a combination of Undergraduates, Masters and MBAs who aim to create a DNA Shift in our organization with positive top and bottom line results by bringing in new skills andcompetenciesto drive innovation. Since its inception in 2011, The Graduate Academy has hired nearly 100 early talents into the business and maintains a 96% retention rate. The program is comprised of four individually-tailored job rotations within Sales Support, Operations, Services, and other professional organizations. Interspersed within the job rotations are classroom-based and online learning as well as strategic projects. From week one, Associates are paired with seasoned mentors, former Associates, and coaches to support their ongoing professional development.

It is no secret that Millennials will comprise the majority of our workforce in 10 years, so recruiting and retaining Generation Y employees is key to our success.

We brought Associates from 5 major North America SAP offices: Atlanta, Chicago, Newtown Square, Palo Alto, and Boston together in a creative session where we applied design thinking methodology in discovering their pain points and generated ideas for making SAP the ideal work place.

I have summarized our key leanings from our session in four key segments and invite you to watch the video to learn what the graduates had to say about each. I feel that these insights apply to any company and not just SAP.

Recruiting

Millennials expect new innovative ways of engaging with potential employers and recruiters. They expect companies to dedicate appropriate Marketing dollars to showcase the novelty behind their products and services. Many expressed that an essential part of recruitment should be focused on showcasing why the specific roles would be appreciated, what kind of opportunities the candidates would have to give back to the community, and how they can be leveraged in SAP’s efforts make the world a better place.

Seamless onboarding

The Millennial value relationships, they want to know their recruiter will care to follow up with them and ensure they have a positive experience once hired and all the way throughout their career. Many of the Graduates expressed the current process at SAP leaves much to be desired for: often there is a disconnect between the recruiting team and onboarding teams, the communication flow to the candidates is not fluid and lacks consistency.

Engagement

Many of our graduates expressed the need to see more interaction from Sr. Management. They feel that SAP would benefit from regular networking opportunities in a more casual setting, and many asked for these opportunities to include alcohol and snacks.

Career Development

The Graduates put much focus on their desire to receive mentorship, growth opportunities, and transparency in receiving feedback from their managers and peers. Many expressed how they would put global citizenship above professional recognition, but everyone expressed how they would want to work on impactful projects, and would like SAP to provide them a clear path for their career growth.

By the way, here is a fun quiz you can take to let you know how millennial you are, check it out and let us know your score in the comments!

You can imagine how thrilled I was when a month later, my employer, SAP, announced that we had hired Maggie as the new head of Integrated Digital Experience, and waited patiently for the opportunity to meet her in person.

In western cultures, self-promotion is an essential tool in career advancement. Yet, so many women of us have a difficult time with it. I will have a heart to heart discussion with Maggie Fox this Thursday, April 3, from 12-1pm at SAP offices in Palo Alto (Building 2, Embarcadero) as she shares her perspective on the subject and showcases some techniques on how to do this more effectively.

Maggie Fox, Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing at SAP

A little more info on Maggie: She is the Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing at SAP, responsible for delivering a unified digital experience to SAP customers and the market. Prior to joining SAP, Fox was founder and CEO of Social Media Group, established in 2006 and one of the world’s most highly respected independent agencies helping businesses navigate the socially engaged Web. She has been interviewed about social and digital trends by Inc. magazine, The Washington Post, CBC Radio, The Globe and Mail, CBC News, CTV News and The Financial Post, among others. In 2011, The National Post named her one of Canada’s Top Innovators. Fox sits on the boards of GetElevate.com and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

These are the questions I will ask her:

How do you define self-promotion?

How do you think we can draw the right balance between self-promotion and coming across as rude or arrogant? For the past five years, in every single review I received, I was told to be more assertive, showcase my confidence, etc. After taking a women’s leadership course and reading your blog, I tried to focus on self-promotion, and three months later, during my annual review, I was told that the stake- holders found my communication style to have become rude lately. (When I asked my manager for specific examples, he mentioned that by rude he meant too much self-promotion. When I shared my story with other women at SAP, to my surprise, they had very similar experiences. Have you had a similar experience?

Do you think as women we should employ different methods than men in self-promotion?

What would you say are the main differences in self-promoting yourself online and offline?

Could you give examples of two women who do a beautiful job in self -promotion (one online, one offline) and what they are doing right?

What is one important thing you want to leave everyone in this room with today?

Here is a recording of our session, would love your input on my moderation skills!

For the past two years I have been attending the quarterly CWIC meetings. (Corporate Women’s Initiative Consortium) A networking group of representatives from women in tech groups from various companies including Yahoo! Google, Intel, SalesForce, IBM, Oracle,eBay and many more.

I had the pleasure of witnessing the launch of many women networking groups and watching them progress, as well as learning from the more established groups such as Intel and Google. Normally, CWIC meets once a quarter, and one company shares their story, (this could be how they just launched their club, or what they plan do for the year, or share a story on how they measured their success and presented results to Executive team, etc).

Per Inga and Caroline Kohout’s suggestion, I have summarized my learning’s below. This outline represents the most common factors each group attributed to their success so far. It looks like BWN has incorporated many of the best practices, but as always, there are a few points we could improve upon and learn from our peers in Silicon Valley.

A Solid Business Case

Making a convincing business case for the women’s network is critical for receiving the infrastructural support that makes the network effective. Most successful groups begun by looking at the company’s overall objectives that often included organizational success and employee success, and presented research that showcased how the company would be better served by taking advantage of women employee’s fully realized potentials and developed skills. They showcased how those skills are nourished through the support, consulting, and training that a woman-networking group offers.

A Clear Mission Statement

Firm Infrastructure

1. Agreement on the frequency of the meetings

2. Definition of roles and establishing the ideal time for each term (Most clubs have one year limit for each role, but some also offer six month periods).

3. Fair and inclusive nomination process

4. .Transparency on eligibility and responsibilities tied to each role

Officer titles that are most commonly used:

Club Chair/Co-Chair

Global Inclusion and Diversity Officer

External Relations Officer

Internal Relations Officer

Member Engagement Officer

Member Recruitment Officer

PR and Social Media Officer

Marketing Officer

CEO and/or a Male Executive Sponsor

Many clubs have shared that male participation has contributed to their effectiveness, most importantly when it comes in the form of active sponsorship or championship.

Partnership with HR and Diversity Teams

A few companies including Brocade shared how they work closely with HR to follow the career roadmap of network members, and compare them to non-members. Not surprisingly, they discovered a positive trend in accelerated career growth for the active members who had participated in the networking and training sessions. They were able to quantify this research and as a result obtain additional budget for advancing their programs.

Specific goals & Clear Measures for Success

Many clubs work with HR to tie specific goals to each initiative and look for patterns and proofs of concept. For instance, in launching a new mentorship program, they document the career path of the participants and look for patterns of success, they also interview the menthes periodically and survey whether they are truly benefiting from the program or not.

Safe and confidential environment for sharing

Many groups endorse a ‘confidentiality agreement’ for certain meetings in order to encourage women to voice their concerns in an open and constructive manner. We also held such a meeting during which one of the company representatives shared how a female Sr. Executive who had been ‘fired’ came back to the meeting and shared her version of the story, (which the women found extremely helpful and actually encouraging).

Some of the Most Successful and Popular Initiatives that were showcased during the meetings:

Yahoo! Agile Conflict Management Workshop: The Human Hack: Reinventing How We Work

A new approach to people and conflict management facilitated byGeraldine (Dene) Rogers

Google’s Women in Tech Conference and Travel Grants

As part of Google’s commitment to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, Google offered Women in Tech Conference and Travel Grants for their female computer scientists that included:

Free registration for conferences

Up to 1000 towards travel and accommodation costs

eBay’s Global Women Leader’s Conference

In 2011, eBay held the Women’s Initiative Network (WIN) summit in San Francisco; the event brought together for the first time the top women leaders from eBay Inc. – nearly 200 people worldwide. The group participated in workshops and panel discussions. They identified actions that they and the company can begin taking to build greater career opportunities for women and enable eBay to build a more diverse global leadership team. The results were phenomenal and the women at eBay feel the company has taken a great positive shift since.

Cisco’s Women Health Workshop in July 2013: (The link between Fitness and Career Success)